


contrapunctus

by glass_icarus



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Chromatic Character, Chromatic Source, Chromatic Source Creator, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-21
Updated: 2013-09-21
Packaged: 2017-12-26 16:16:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/967998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glass_icarus/pseuds/glass_icarus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A piano duet with absolutely no one killed or maimed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	contrapunctus

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pennyheart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pennyheart/gifts).



Shintarou often plays the piano when he wants to think. Warm-up scales and arpeggios to vent his frustrations, Czerny etudes to clear his mind, and when he's ready to consider the problem at hand, he goes to [Bach](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-dGuTLiMso).

It's always Bach. He's loved Bach since he was a child, sitting between his parents at one of their colleagues' daughter's recitals. Bach is the reason why he wanted to learn to play the piano. Nakamura-sensei, Ishida-sensei, and Yamada-sensei have made concerted efforts to get him to play other things, but Shintarou dislikes the non-methodical so intensely that it bleeds into his performance. Over the years, his teachers have either resigned or resigned themselves to his extremely Baroque tastes.

("Music is emotional, Midorima-kun," Yamada-sensei said during their last class together. "Music is for expressing everything you can't say in words. There's nothing wrong with the Baroque period, but I feel that you're limiting your communication this way."

"I prefer logical progressions," Shintarou told her. "I don't see anything wrong with that."

"As you like, Midorima-kun," said Yamada-sensei. "It's been a pleasure, but you might be better served if we part ways. I can send you a list of contacts and make introductions."

"Thank you," said Shintarou, handing over the [Rachmaninoff](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7JyUOBBVgg) with relief.)

\--

Unfortunately, Shintarou has developed a new problem with this habit of thinking while practicing: Akashi's presence makes it impossible to think.

"Hello," Akashi says from the music room doorway, as if on cue.

Shintarou misses a note and scowls. "Please stop interrupting me. It's distracting."

Akashi ignores him with his usual royal dignity and goes to lounge on the couch next to the piano. "I ran into Yamada-sensei the other day," he says.

"How fascinating." Shintarou finishes with the harmonic and melodic minor scales and stops; there's no point in continuing his routine with Akashi in the room to discompose him. "I assume that means you had a lesson. What's she having you play now?"

"Oh, [Satie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOTpQpoHHaw), [Debussy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Hyq4Xc7Q8), [Webern](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hk3rKIW3qg)." Akashi smiles. "All those things you don't like."

Shintarou makes a pained noise. "I'm glad _you're_ getting along with her."

"It's important to cultivate a variety of tastes," Akashi says. "Or at least to accommodate them occasionally. It's good business sense."

"Was there a point to this conversation?"

"Yamada-sensei said hello, and she wants to know when your next recital is."

Shintarou drops his forehead onto the keys. "Two weeks, but I don't know why she's interested, it's all Bach and Scarlatti. I do actually need to practice."

"Go ahead, we have twenty minutes left in this study period," says Akashi, settling back into the couch. "I'm just going to finish my history homework."

Shintarou sighs, resigning himself to the inevitable. "If I mess up today, it's your fault for making me lose half my warm-up time," he says.

\--

Since their first meeting over a shogi board, Shintarou's most important mission in life has been to beat Akashi Seijuurou. Despite Oha Asa and his multi-level strategies (game challenges, English and history revisions, reciprocating Akashi's occasional invitations to art exhibits and museums and even concerts) to figure Akashi out, he's been losing from the start. It would be a lie to say that Shintarou doesn't mind, but it would also be a lie to say that beating Akashi is all he wants. Friendship and cutthroat competitive instincts make an interesting mix.

Three months in, Shintarou has finally gotten used to Akashi's sporadic presence in the music room, but Akashi is apparently not content with the status quo. Shintarou knows this because there's new sheet music on the piano bench every time he goes to practice, none of it aligned with his own preferences. He might have accepted the occasional [Rachmaninoff](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EWfUIaE2gc) or [Chopin](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLZ-l0Nj3Go), being somewhat inured to such requests thanks to his time with Yamada-sensei, but he's pretty sure the [John Cage](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN2zcLBr_VM) was put there just to fuck with him. It's a _tacet score_. Shintarou has no idea who Akashi thinks he's kidding.

It takes an extra hour of shooting practice after school to clear his mind that day. If Murasakibara makes strange comments about idiosyncratic dating etiquette in the locker room, well, it's Murasakibara. He has a reputation for peculiarity that rivals Shintarou's, and in Shintarou's opinion, it is far more deserved.

\--

Sometimes, even Shintarou doesn't understand why his heart is so set on basketball. It's not the wisest choice of hobby for a pianist, casual or otherwise, and his teammates can be enough to drive anyone to the limits of their sanity. The advent of Kise Ryouta in second year makes Shintarou wonder how he ever thought Aomine was the impossible one.

"Midorimacchi!" Kise says, pouncing. "I had no idea you were an expert pianist!"

Shintarou peels Kise's arm from his shoulder. "I have no idea where you heard such a ridiculous rumor," he says. "You should really stop listening to your fangirls. Also, I believe we've already had words about your unacceptable habit of ambushing me in the hallway."

"But my fans are so often right," Kise says, confused. "Anyway, it wasn't the ladies who told me. Maeda-sensei asked me to give you the sheet music for the third years' graduation ceremony, and Maeda-sensei wouldn't ask just anyone!"

"Kise. You don't even have class with Maeda-sensei, why would she-"

"Sorry, Shintarou," Akashi says behind him, completely unapologetic. "Maeda-sensei gave me the folder, but I had to discuss some student council matters after class, so I asked Kise to pass it to you."

Kise shoves the music folder into Shintarou's hands, beaming. "Akashicchi!"

"You what?" says Shintarou. "Akashi, I thought you were going to do the accompaniment."

"You practice more than I do," Akashi says, "and I have a shogi tournament the same week."

"Wait, Akashicchi plays too?" Kise pouts. "Nobody tells me anything!"

"I can't imagine why," Shintarou says pointedly, but Kise is already distracted.

"Oh! You and Akashicchi should play a duet for graduation!" Kise's smile is so wide it's blinding, or maybe that's just the glare from his freshly-whitened teeth.

" _What_ \- the graduation piece is not a-" Shintarou splutters. "Stop talking nonsense, Kise."

Akashi, curse him, merely looks amused. "Oh?"

"It's not nonsense, it's good publicity!" Kise insists. "Besides, I want to hear you play."

"How many times do I have to remind you that _we aren't pop idols_ ," says Shintarou. "Don't you have a photoshoot to be at or something?"

"Oh!" says Kise, and dashes off.

"A duet, hm? He does have some interesting ideas," Akashi says thoughtfully. Shintarou winces and clutches the panda eraser in his pocket; clearly Cancer's luck today is on a downswing.

\--

After two weeks, it becomes apparent that Akashi is not planning to forget about the duet idea anytime soon. Over half of the sheet music left on the piano bench consists of four hands scores: [Ravel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ov4Hg-ql0s), [Tchaikovsky](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UswURqG_c5M), [Ravel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEC_XGjgluo), [Piazzolla](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLjn_Enddno), [Poulenc](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3cDpS1ehKs).

"Akashi," Shintarou says, brandishing the Poulenc. " _Is this your idea of a joke_."

"I happen to like that piece."

"Are you trying to convince me this is a good idea, or are you trying to provoke me to homicide?"

Akashi raises an eyebrow. "All right, no need to get excited."

"This is why I never play duets," Shintarou grumbles. "I always get stuck on the problem of the other person."

"Well, you are exceedingly particular," Akashi says mildly. "Still, I'm sure we can come to an agreeable compromise, don't you think?"

Shintarou eyes him dubiously. Compromise? In Akashi's vocabulary? "Not today, we won't. Why do you want this duet so much anyway? Kise's the one who suggested it."

"Kise?" Akashi sighs. "Shintarou, sometimes I worry about you."

\--

Shintarou opens the door to the music room and stares.

Akashi is, not entirely unexpectedly, sitting on the piano bench next to another four hands score. The plush octopus in his lap is disconcerting, though, and also not Oha Asa's lucky item for Sagittarius. In fact, there's another one just like it in Shintarou's-

"Oh," says Shintarou.

"Yes, _oh_ ," says Akashi. "Really, Shintarou, it took you long enough. You do realize we've been doing this for a year?"

Shintarou hasn't actually been keeping track of the time, what with the silent music war driving him to distraction, but feels it would be wisest not to say so. Instead, he nudges Akashi over on the bench and reaches up to readjust his glasses. "[Mozart](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URj9NoUDD08), huh."

"Well, I wasn't going to give you Bach and the octopus all at once," says Akashi. "That would look like an apology, and Poulenc requires no apologies."

"What about the John Cage?" says Shintarou. "I think you owe me Bach for that one."

"Oh, maybe," says Akashi. "Or I could give you Bach for something else."

\--

It's not precisely a compromise- Akashi, being Akashi, is more of a steamroller- but Shintarou is happy to discover that none of their four-hands exploits end in blood or murder after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Pieces in order of appearance:  
> 1\. J.S. Bach, English Suite No. 2  
> 2\. Sergei Rachmaninoff, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini  
> 3\. Erik Satie, Gnossienne No. 1  
> 4\. Claude Debussy, Reflets dans l'eau  
> 5\. Anton Webern, Variations Op. 21  
> 6\. Sergei Rachmaninoff, Études-tableaux Op. 23 No. 2,1  
> 7\. Frédéric Chopin, Valse Op. 64 No. 2  
> 8\. John Cage, 4'33"  
> 9\. Maurice Ravel, Pavane pour une infante défunte  
> 10\. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sweet Dream (Op. 39 No. 21)  
> 11\. Maurice Ravel, Ma mère l'oye  
> 12\. Astor Piazzolla, Tango Suite  
> 13\. Francis Poulenc, Sonata for Piano Four Hands (Prelude)  
> 14\. W.A. Mozart, Sonata for Piano Four Hands KV521


End file.
